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The term ‘justice and home affairs’ (JHA) denotes a policy-making domain of the EU covering asylum and immigration policy, external border management, judicial cooperation in both civil and criminal matters, and police cooperation. Although the JHA domain emerged as an EU policy-making domain formally only in 1993 with the Treaty of Maastricht, it has developed into one of the fastest-growing fields of EU action, with well over a hundred new texts having been adopted every year by the EU ‘Justice and Home Affairs Council’ during the decade 2000–2010. This article first explores the origins,...

The term ‘justice and home affairs’ (JHA) denotes a policy-making domain of the EU covering asylum and immigration policy, external border management, judicial cooperation in both civil and criminal matters, and police cooperation. Although the JHA domain emerged as an EU policy-making domain formally only in 1993 with the Treaty of Maastricht, it has developed into one of the fastest-growing fields of EU action, with well over a hundred new texts having been adopted every year by the EU ‘Justice and Home Affairs Council’ during the decade 2000–2010. This article first explores the origins, obstacles, and driving factors of the EU JHA domain. It then provides a critical assessment of progress and deficits of the main fields of EU action, i.e., asylum and immigration policy, external border management, internal security, and judicial cooperation in civil matters. The conclusions provide an overall assessment and consider key challenges for the further development of this domain.